notepad-plus-plus / notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus
[Feature request] Allow piping into the program
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- Dominant language
- C++
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Description
Is there an existing issue for this?
- I have searched the existing issues
Description of the Issue
I'm wondering if it's possible to allow piping one or more items from standard output into new tabs in notepad++.
Describe the solution you'd like.
https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/kate/ has this feature, where one can write command | kate --stdin or even for/while...; do command | kate --stdin; done and each command pipe will open a new tab with the content. It's far more convenient (and reliable) than copying-and-pasting the output of each command.
My workaround is to pipe to a temporary file in Windows:
function Open-NotepadPlusPlus {
param(
[Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
$Content
)
begin {
$tempPaths = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[string]
}
process {
$tempPath = [IO.Path]::GetTempFileName()
$Content *>&1 | Out-File -Encoding 'utf8' $tempPath
$tempPaths.Add($tempPath)
}
end {
Start-Process `
-FilePath "$env:ProgramFiles\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" `
-ArgumentList $tempPaths
}
}
But a solution that doesn't touch the hard drive would be more helpful.
Debug Information
Notepad++ v8.9.6.4 (64-bit)
Build time: Jun 3 2026 - 23:47:49
Scintilla/Lexilla included: 5.6.2/5.4.9
Boost Regex included: 1_90
pugixml included: 1.15
nlohmann JSON included: 3.12.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line:
Admin mode: OFF
Local Conf mode: OFF
Cloud Config: OFF
WinGUp: present
disableNppAutoUpdate.xml: absent
Periodic Backup: OFF
Placeholders: OFF
Scintilla Rendering Mode: SC_TECHNOLOGY_DEFAULT (0)
Multi-instance Mode: monoInst
asNotepad: OFF
File Status Auto-Detection: cdEnabledNew (for current file/tab only)
Dark Mode: ON
Display Info:
primary monitor: 1366x768, scaling 100%
visible monitors count: 2
installed Display Class adapters:
0000: Description - Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
0000: DriverVersion - 10.18.10.4358
OS Name: Windows 11 Pro (64-bit)
OS Version: 24H2
OS Build: 26100.8737
Current ANSI codepage: 1252
Plugins:
mimeTools (3.1)
NppConverter (4.7)
NppExport (0.4)
Anything else?
No response
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
No files or tests are named. Begin by locating the command-line startup and standard-input handling, then compare the requested --stdin behavior with existing argument processing. Done means piped output opens in a new tab without requiring a temporary file, including repeated pipes.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- cli, desktop
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100